BLM comms (Columbus Division of Police)
| Tracking # |
20-1866 |
| Multi Request | BLM comms |
| Submitted | June 8, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Emma North-Best
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Ohio Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
Emails, letters, and memos to or from police/law enforcement unions, the National Guard, or federal officials between May 1, 2020 and the present.
I also request copies of emails containing any of the following: "protest", "protests", "Black Lives Matter", "BLM", "riot", "riots", "antifa", "antifascist", "anti-fascist", or "militia".
I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.
As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.
Sincerely,
Emma Best
From: Columbus Division of Police
Good morning,
This request is overly broad and cannot be completed.
"Overly broad case law: State ex ref. Zidonis v. Columbus State Community College, 133 Ohio St.3d 122, 2012-Ohio-4228 (request for all litigation files and all grievance files for a period over six years, and for all emails between two employees during joint employment); State ex ref. Dehler v. Spatny, 127 Ohio St. 3d 312, 2010-Ohio-5711 (request for prison quartermaster's orders and receipts for clothing over seven years); State ex ref. Glasgow v. Jones, 119 Ohio St.3d 391, 2008-Ohio-4788 (request for all work-related emails, texts, and correspondence of an elected
official during six months in office); State ex ref. Daugherty v. Mohr, 10th Dist. No 11AP-5, 2011-Ohio-6453 (request for all policies,
emails, or memos regarding whether prison officials are authorized to 'triple cell' inmates into segregation); State ex ref. Davila v. Bellefontaine,
3d Dist. No. 8-11-01, 2011-Ohio-4890 (request to inspect 911 tapes covering 15 years); State ex ref. Davila v. East Liverpool, 7th Dist.
No. 10 CO 16, 2011-Ohio-1347, discretionary appeal not allowed 2011-Ohio-4217 (request to access tape recorded 911 calls and
radio traffic over seven years); State ex ref. Zauderer v. Joseph, 62 Ohio App.3d 752 (10th Dist. 1989) (request for all accident reports filed on a
given date with two law enforcement agencies).
Also See State ex rel. Zidonis v. Columbus State Community College, 133 Ohio St.3d 122, 2012-Ohio-4228, ¶ 30 (Public Records Act "does not
expressly require public offices to maintain emails so they can be retrieved by sender and recipient status."); State ex rel. Oriana House v.
Montgomery, 10th Dist. Nos. 04AP-492, 04AP-504, 2005-Ohio-3377, ¶ 89, rev'd on other grounds, 110 Ohio St.3d 456, 2006-Ohio-4854 (the fact
that requester made what it believed to be a specific request does not mandate that the public office keep its records in such a way that access
to the records was possible); State ex rel. Evans v. Parma, 8th Dist. No. 81236, 2003-Ohio-1159. 90 State ex rel. Evans v. Parma, 8th Dist. No. 81236, 2003-Ohio-1159, ¶15 "
Respectfully,
Kathy (Bowling) Hartshorne
Management Analyst I
Public Records Unit
Desk (614) 645-4896
Main (614) 645-4925
Files
There are no files associated with this request.